This McCartney-led romp through Little Richard's rock 'n' roll classic was recorded in a single take during the sessions for A Hard Day's Night.

The song was originally released by Little Richard in March 1956, and was a staple of The Beatles' live set from 1957 right up to their final show in San Francisco in 1966 - the most enduring of any of their songs.

Little Richard was one of the all-time greats. The first time I heard him a friend of mine had been to Holland and brought back a 78 with Long Tall Sally on one side, and Slippin' And Slidin' on the other. It blew our heads - we'd never heard anybody sing like that in our lives and all those saxes playing like crazy.

John Lennon
Anthology

The group had played with Little Richard in England and Hamburg during the early 1960s, and McCartney was especially proud of his ability to mimic his hero's vocal delivery.

One of the things I didn't like about the film Backbeat is that they gave Long Tall Sally to the John character. I was not amused. I always sang that: me and Little Richard.

Paul McCartney
Anthology

Long Tall Sally was taped in the midst of the sessions for the A Hard Day's Night album. It is possible that the song was considered for inclusion in the film, possibly during the live finale, but was deemed to be surplus to requirements.

In the UK it was first released as the lead song on the Long Tall Sally EP. The US heard it two months earlier, on The Beatles' Second Album.

The Beatles included Long Tall Sally during Around The Beatles, a TV show for the ITV network filmed on 19 April 1964. The version can be found on Anthology 1.

An earlier radio version, recorded on 16 July 1963 and broadcast on 13 August, was included on Live At The BBC. The Beatles recorded six other versions of Long Tall Sally for BBC radio between 1 April 1963 and 17 July 1964.

In the studio

The Beatles recorded Long Tall Sally in a single take on 1 March 1964. Having played it so often live, they simply had no need to record it twice.

The song featured two guitar solos, the first played by John Lennon and the second by George Harrison.

This song plays an important role in the early history of the Beatles: It was the opening song in their legendary breakthrough set at Litherland Town Hall, December 27, 1960. Everything Little Richard has accomplished is only augmented by his connection to the first incredible flash of Beatlemania.

I read somewhere that since they only had to transcribe the lyrics off the vinyl record, some of the lyrics didn’t match those of Little Richard’s, for example, Paul sang “Well, Long Tall Sally drew pretty pictures of Everything that Uncle John did”

Anybody who accuses the Beatles of being inferior instrumentally should be forced to listen to this song. Ringo turns in a performance equal to Rain or Tomorrow Never Knows, John plays a great guitar solo. And then there’s Paul McCartney. The man is just so extraordinary. Listen to “And I Love Her”, recorded not more than a few days before. He can go from sweetness and grace to screaming Little Richard at full volume. Later, in the Help sessions, he performed I’m Down and Yesterday back to back.

I was also surprised to read that Long Tall Sally was performed live until the last show. I read somewhere else years ago that I’m Down was specifically written to replace it as the closing song and assumed LTS was not played after it’s inclusion.

This is my all-time favorite Beatles rave up song. There are so many amazing things about it. I stumbled on to this website because, after all the years of blasting this song at full volume, I wanted to find out if it was actually Ringo playing the drums. So glad to find out it was. For me, the epitome of the song comes at about 1:18 leading into the 2nd instrumental break. Ringo’s timing and the way the bass and drums complement each other here is phenomenal. Interesting, in reading all the comments above, that no one said anything about McCartney’s bass playing. He’s pretty much shredding it…WHILE singing! He’s definitely one of the best melodic bass players while singing, in the world.

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